Hrafdis Audsdottr hails from a tiny island kingdom about a hundred miles off of Ydra; while south of the Isle of Blain, her homeland is in the same general region. She has an infamously nasty personality, and while she has yet to shake off her reputation as a grave-robber, murderer, and liar, she hasn't invested too much effort in doing so. Hrafdis is one of the personal thegns of King Bor and serves as his field commander with increasing regularity as he ages.

Appearance

Hrafdis is a human woman in her late twenties with no outstanding malformations. She has dull green eyes with a slight but noticeable slant to them, her hair long and black, her skin the color of old bone and dusted with freckles. She is heavy-boned, with distinct curves; Hrafdis has the sort of figure that would run quickly to a potbelly if she didn't spend multiple hours each day in combat practice. Her muscles are defined but not pronounced.

Both her arms bear badly-faded tattoos in dark blue ink that run from the upper surface of her hands to a few inches above her elbows. Mirror images of one another, they depict fanged and tusked whale-fish swimming through stormy waves, their stylized bodies equal parts blocky and sinuous. The details have begun to go fuzzy and indistinct. They're a souvenir of her homeland in the northern seas and were inked when she was a young teenager.

Hrafdis prefers shorter tunics, often elaborately cross-tied and often made from red fabrics; in casual contexts she often wears them alone, but in the field or in the wintertime she always wears thick trousers underneath them. She wears sandals or boots when the weather or her duty demands it, but goes barefoot if she is able. She has a magpie-like love for jewelry and is rarely seen without at least a few pieces on display. Her role as a thegn of King Bor encourages her to regularly wear mail, even during relatively peaceful times; while she's prepared for battle, this has also given her minor, chronic joint problems.

In battle, Hrafdis prefers heavy mail and a helm of inlaid steel crested with a fan of black feathers; her hair is worn long even when fighting, but her helm keeps it out of her face and eyes. While she will carry a spear into combat, it is usually abandoned after the first clash so that she can fight more closely. Hrafdis prefers the sword and shield; her usual blade is a langseax, a single-edged, drop-pointed weapon slightly shorter than an ordinary sword. While she owns several, her favorite blade was dug from a rain-eaten barrow on an island in the Ox: it's shorter and heavier than her others, being forged in an older style, and the runes along its spine name it "Pact-Breaker."

History

Born as a freeholder's second daughter and relatively well-off by the standards of her poor home kingdom, she was outlawed from her homeland in her late teens after a dispute with a neighboring lord's sons turned bloody.

Hrafdis was formally adopted by a landed thegn from the lower regions of the Ox River a mere year after joining up with him, and inherited his farm and title when he was killed in a raid several years later.

When she first found Pact-Breaker it was being used to nail a dead lord to the keel of his funeral ship. After tearing it from the moldering corpse, Hrafdis subsequently used it to cut his vengeful draugr to pieces which she then flung into the river. The thing, its rotting body now reknitted, hunts her still; she is aware of this fact, and will proudly mention it to anyone who'll listen.

Potential Interactions

Handling much of the military side of government, Hrafdis is usually involved in some way with any city-related martial affair. She has quite a talent for storytelling and poetic mockery, and is more than willing to demonstrate both to, or upon, others. She also occasionally has an interest in doings which are too shady to legitimately call upon Kungesvald's resources, such as robbing graves or burning the ships of someone who's annoyed her; Hrafdis will also occasionally grant her blessing to outside parties who ask her to sponsor dirty deeds if she finds them particularly interesting or amusing.